Jewish, Christian and Islamic Peace

The followers of Muhammad – Sallalahu Alaihi Wassalam (peace be upon him) all over the world gathered in solemn prayer last October 12, 2007 in order to mark the end of Ramadan. Together, they offered thanksgiving to Allah for all the blessings He bestowed upon them as the rest of the world joined them in celebrating Eid “l Fitr which marked the end of 40 days of fasting. The calls of the muezzins reverberated everywhere enjoining the faithful to prayer and most significantly, in almost all the sermons given by the imams, the call for universal peace resounded with greater resonance. In the following days, most of the newspapers bannered peace in their headlines as the sole desire expressed by every Muslim, which in turn was greeted with much gladness by Jews and Christians alike. Everyone seemed to be overjoyed.

But peace has been a long sought for dream. For centuries, peace, which the Hebrews call Shalom, Pax by Latin speaking Christians, and Salam in Arabic tongue had been very elusive specially to the three major religions of the world. Unending enmity has stood at the midst of the Jews, Christians and Muslims since time immemorial. Each of them reviles another, as mortal enemies loathe their adversaries. And since the very beginning, bloodshed has dominated their common histories. Worst of all, they killed and continue to annihilate one another in the name of God whom they believe to be One, and Common Father.

No one perhaps can ever imagine the horrors of the Christian inquisition against the Jews during the medieval period which was further accentuated by their perceived indifference when genocidal Hitler exterminated over 6 million Jews without any reason at all except being Jews. On the other hand, who can forget the crusades and jihads – those devastating wars waged by both Christians and Muslims against each other and which both religions collectively called “holy”? In contemporary times we saw the September 11 attacks of the twin towers in the United States which killed thousands of innocent civilians. We also witnessed and coiled in grim outrage over suicide bombings being carried out almost everywhere; and reacted with anger over the perennial terroristic activities of Abu Sayaf in the Phillipines. Right now we are spectators to the unending conflict between the Zionist Jews and the Palistinian mujaheedins or holy warriors in Middle East.

When will they ever stop? Why do these religions which call Abraham (Ibrahim in Arabic) their Father, and God as One, fight one another with unrelenting tenacity? Why do they hold one another in constant contempt?